Now that I got that out of the way, apparently there are some misconceptions about what the Amber Alert was designed to do. It is in place to make people aware of a situation and be on the lookout as they live their lives. While it would be fantastic if everyone in a six state area could drop what they're doing and go on a massive manhunt, that's not feasible and anyone who thinks that's what's supposed to happen is living in a fantasy world. I prefer to live in reality.

And the reality is, if you have people opting out due to excessive texts, that's one less outlet available to get the message out, and defeats the purpose. I don't think it's unreasonable to not want your personal phone that you rely on to live your life unnecessarily blown up to the point you have to consider silencing it or shutting it off.

And no one, I mean NO ONE in the other thread complained about "their favorite TV show being interrupted." But yet that was brought up by one jackass multiple times. It's a shame that you can't have a reasonable discussion about a serious issue without certain assholes blowing what one says out of proportion.

And lastly, we can take every possible extreme measure to try to prevent such tragedies from taking place, but as shown in this case, sometimes they simply can't be prevented. The human race shows its ugly side on occasion. I don't like it any more than anyone else. What's important is to not completely overreact and throw out knee-jerk solutions that will not solve the problems. No amount of Amber Alerts are going to save every child from a predator. No amount of gun control is going to stop every school shooting. Throwing people in prison for life for a DWI won't prevent idiots from getting behind the wheel drunk and killing people. It's just the sad reality of life.

I'm not saying we shouldn't do anything about such issues, but what I am saying is there are always going to be limits to the effectiveness of them and we have to be rational about how apply the systems we put in place.

/mic drop.

I wouldn't put much stock into what brainiac (ironic screen name) says. Hes incapable of having a discussion in which he agrees to disagree with someone. He represents a small minority that make CP a shitty place at times. I remember last month discussing how Andy Reid didn't deserve coach of the year for blowing a 28 point lead. "Brainiac" goes on some rant calling me names and brings up his weird obsession with me supporting a political candidate from 2 years ago. Funny he had a problem with what you said but had no problem hijacking the thread.

Anyway here's the flaw with Amber alerts: the girl was abducted at 4:48 the alert wasn't sent out until 7? She was most likely already dead by then. Bugeater is right they aren't going to fix this.

Or they could just opt out, lessening the effectiveness of the system as described above.

yup, there is that too.

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Ephesians 2:8-10

English Standard Version (ESV)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

I don't mind the alerts. I will say I got a bit desensitized to Amber Alerts in general when they were first being pushed out because the ones I heard always ended up being "family abductions".

From looking at the Amber Alert wiki, it looks like most law enforcement agencies now won't issue an Amber Alert for these, stating the requirement that the child's life must be in significant danger.

Two things I think they should do:

1. Add a picture of what the car looks like. It doesn't have to be the same car. I just don't know what every make and model of car looks like, and when I'm out in my car and get one of these texts it's not a great time to google it. I'm not even sure what color is classified as "gold". Is that the same as yellow?